There’s a lesson or two in Utah nurse’s shocking arrest

My sister is a police chief and she does a wonderful job connecting and building trust in her community. But incidents like this can shake our trust.

Our country has seen plenty of incidents involving the abuse of power and authority. These incidents can lead to animosity and divisiveness between different groups.

“Our country has seen plenty of incidents involving the abuse of power and authority. These incidents can lead to animosity and divisiveness between different groups.”

If you haven’t heard about what happened, here’s a quick play by play: A Salt Lake City police detective requested that a University of Utah Health nurse draw labs on a patient. According to news reports, the patient was involved in a vehicular accident but was not the cause of the accident. The person who supposedly caused the accident died at the scene. The patient was not able to give consent for the labs, was not under arrest and there was no warrant. If this detective or officer came to you with this request, what would you do?

Know your hospital policy

There is a reason hospitals have policies, and this is a great example. While you may not be able to remember every policy off the top of your head, you can always pull up a policy and review it if you need clarity on the details and protocol. If you follow hospital policy and something happens, you will be protected by the hospital in case of a lawsuit — “protected” in terms that the hospital will defend your actions.

If you choose not to follow hospital policy — say, for instance, you drew the labs on the request of the detective, without a court order or patient consent, and on a patient that wasn’t under arrest — you open yourself up to many potential legal ramifications. These can include a civil lawsuit (battery-no consent), practicing outside of your scope of practice and HIPAA violations. The issue in this case is whether to draw the labs requested from the detective to “save for later” versus drawing labs requested by a provider per an order before the draw.

Of course, labs were drawn for other reasons with this patient, although he could not consent. The justification here is the assumption that the reasonable person would not want to be denied necessary medical care because they are too incapacitated to consent. However, there are rules for ordering labs that are in place to protect an individual’s rights when he or she cannot consent, and if the labs go beyond the emergency and acute care treatment that person needs.

“If you choose not to follow hospital policy — say, for instance, you drew the labs on the request of the detective, without a court order or patient consent, and on a patient that wasn’t under arrest — you open yourself up to many potential legal ramifications.”

Code of ethics

The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics provides the ethical guide for nurses in these types of situations. Provision 1.4, The Right to Self-Determination, speaks to the respect for autonomy. In this case, the respect for autonomy was at risk. This provision states that patient decisions are to be autonomous, which requires the patient to have adequate and accurate information, and their decision needs to be voluntary. In clinical practice, this is gained through the informed consent process.

The emphasis for respect of autonomy, voluntariness and informed consent was in large part a response to the Nazi medical atrocities of World War II (ANA, 2015). During this time, nurses were complicit in these atrocities. If voluntariness cannot be obtained, then a surrogate can be the decision maker. The role of the surrogate is to make decisions that are in the best interests of the patient.

The second provision that applies is Provision 2.1, Primacy of the Patient’s Interests. Here, the Code of Ethics notes that since the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, it carries the greatest weight and can lead to conflict (ANA, 2015).

The nurse stood up valiantly for her patient when the patient could not speak for himself. Standing up in any situation can be a very uncomfortable, if not scary feeling. Based on the video, I am not sure who was around that could have helped de-escalate the situation and if anyone could have effectively helped. In addition to nurses knowing policy, scope of practice and the Code of Ethics, programs such as TeamSTEPPS can be effective in providing a higher quality safer patient care environment. Having a team of individuals stand with you to support you should be a goal in any organization.

“The nurse stood up valiantly for her patient when the patient could not speak for himself.”

TeamSTEPPS

Unfortunately, there are many situations that can occur in our healthcare organizations daily that compromise ethical and legal boundaries. The TeamSTEPPS program is a teamwork system designed for healthcare professionals to improve patient safety and produce highly effective teams. It was developed with more than 20 years of research by the Department of Defense’s Patient Safety Program in collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The training and materials for this program are located on the AHRQ website.

At this point unless other details surface, the detective was in the wrong, the nurse was in the right. Hospital policies and protocols exist for a reason, which are always aligned and updated with current laws and regulations.

I am thankful the nurse stood up for her unconscious patient’s rights. Her actions demonstrate why nurses remain the most trusted profession.

“I am thankful the nurse stood up for her unconscious patient’s rights. Her actions demonstrate why nurses remain the most trusted profession.”

Courses Related to ‘Ethics’

60097: Everyday Ethics for Nurses ( 7.3 contact hrs)
This course provides an overview of bioethics as it applies to healthcare and nursing in the U.S. It begins by describing the historical events and forces that brought the bioethics movement into being and explains the concepts, theories and principles that are its underpinnings. It shows how ethics functions within nursing, as well as on a hospitalwide, interdisciplinary ethics committee. The course also explains the elements of ethical decision making as they apply to the care of patients and on ethics committees. The course concludes with a look at the ethical challenges involved in physician-assisted suicide, organ transplantation and genetic testing.

CE548: Protect Yourself (1 contact hr)
Nurses have an obligation to keep abreast of current issues surrounding the regulation of the practice of nursing, not only in their respective states, but also across the nation, especially when their nursing practice crosses state borders. Because the practice of nursing is a right granted by a state to protect those who need nursing care, nurses have a duty to patients to practice in a safe, competent and responsible manner. This requires a nurse licensee to practice in conformity with their states statute and regulations. This course outlines information about nurse practice acts and how they affect nursing practice.

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Jennifer Mensik, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is division director of care management at Oregon Health and Science University and instructor for Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation DNP program. She also is treasurer for the American Nurses Association. Formerly, Mensik was vice president of CE programming for Nurse.com published by OnCourse Learning. A second-edition book she authored, "The Nurse Manager's Guide to Innovative Staffing," won third place in the leadership category for the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards 2017.

112 Comments

If she were following procedure- and was physically detained for doing this- then the hospital’s legal staff should file a formal complaint. And while it is great she followed policy and procedure- she was STILL arrested. Unacceptable. They should have been on the phone with the police chief or mayor.

Just saw this story on the evening news: I believe the Supreme Court has ruled that blood samples obtained for evidence without informed consent must have a judges order. I do not believe that the nurse is required to participate in the gathering of evidence. I HAVE performed many venipunctures for law enforcement over the years but always with the ED patients consent. I would NOT going forward because the nurse is not a law enforcement officer AND law enforcement has access to medical personnel at the jail. Evidentiary draws in the hospital are a mechanism of convienence for the officer. I advise avoiding them. It may endear you to a policeman but experience taught me it is not worth all the hours spent in the court room just to state YES I drew the blood. This detective was operating outside the scope of his office. Personally I hope she sues the hell out of everybody including the hospital.

It is not fair to categorize anyone. If it were, cops would be the exception. They tend to be arrogant and power hungry. For a lack of a better term [expletive deleted]. I realize they do not have an easy job. However the public did not choose it for them. Not to say all police are [expletive deleted], but many of them are. The person that gave permission to arrest the nurse and the officer that over reacted should be fired.

I absolutely agree. It was the worst scenario I have ever imagined any professional nurse could have found one’s self in. Even harder is it to believe that an innocent nurse could be arrested in a hospital setting and be whisked away without any questions from the security department of the hospital or even other employees in attendance. It demands an outcry from every nurse and the board of nursing. It is outrageous and unacceptable. One then wonders what next could any nurse experience while in an honest employment beside this humiliation.

Where was adminstration/nursing supervisor to protect the nurse/employee?? Where was the “Team”/ her co-workers during the harassment?? Where was hospital security during the incident?? Why did the nursing supervisor/a co-worker not call the cops superior??

Yes, where is everybody. The role of the hospital police is well defined to protect the staff and the hospital. They did not do their job and are not willing to step up in the past or in the future. They did not understand the policy and their role in the protecting and enforcing policy. My bet is they are simply “off the street” hires will no experience or direction that work for minimum wages. They look like they want to help but have no tactical experience. Where are the doctors and the supervisors? In a prior reply I talked about Correct Action Effectivity. Every one in that ER needs a corrective action. My review board woud collect every function in the ER and make sure they are affected in some way by a true Root Cause Corrective action. This is a multidimensional problem at every level. The police, police supervision, doctors, security, nurses, hospital management, hospital supervision, all failed to prepare for this and understand how to descalate this situation. Now the police chief and mayor, who are the least able, want to achieve a solution that is mostly “damage control” whose object is to minimize city cost from a law suit while never address the board character of the problem.

watch the 19 minute long version… the nurse is on the phone with her supervisor, hospital security – at least 2 of them – are there. There are several co-workers… I cannot figure out who the guys in white shirts are who seem to be trying to support the nurse and calm the cop down with no success. Early in the tape – listen carefully – you hear PAYNE say to the other officer there – “I’m leaving here with blood or someone is getting arrested” So he came into ED angry about something and acted like an idiot.

This comment(s) poses many factual points. I, also, have watched this interaction between the nurse and this officer, more than once. And she was placed in an unfair predicament. But, she did the right choice, for herself, her profession, RN, and for her patient. However, the first time that I viewed this, I thought that I was watching a nurse who was working in a very rural emergency department and she was the only staff nurse on duty in the ER. Where the h–l was anyone else of the staff who was working WITH her on this occasion?

It’s so frustrating I am so
Glad the nurse for once gets credit. We have holiday pay taken away. We have so many pts we can’t keep up. We have so many bosses sitting around making rules for us to follow so
Many we can’t keep them straight. Nurses work tired from being up all
Night and being on their feet 14 hours a day you go home rest for a few hours and come back. There is rarely a lunch break or breaks at all. Nurses are under paid over worked and still keeping Pts and family members happy. It’s not a glamouros job. When will This all change?

God bless her. I can’t help wondering if anyone called the nursing administration although i realize it was pretty fast. My sympathies go out to her for being treated in this way. What a wonderful advocate.

The police in this country are cowards. They are not protecting us. They are in fact something to fear. I will no longer sugar coat this fact by saying some cops are good. It is an excuse. Things like this happen too much. Change needs to happen.

No, Payne’s behavior was criminal and he should be treated as such. And yes, this is happening too much. We should not indict all law enforcement because of Payne. This is the type of behavior that adds to the negative impression some have of law enforcement. Payne truly is the exception-not the rule. We just don’t see the far more common positive police interactions because they don’t make good press. I’d like to see what happens with Payne. I really hope he is relieved of his duty and his employment.

I just posted a response to this same event on another site. In essence, I said: We as nurses experience abuse from MD’s, patients, family members, and non essential medical staff on a daily basis. There is no doubt why there is a Nursing Shortage in this country. I have been in the profession 20 years and this may well be my last year. No longer will I be cussed by a doctor I have to call a critical lab to in the middle of the night. I think the public would be very surprised and quite saddened by the treatment nurses endure simply for advocating for the well-being of their patient’s.

Here here. I’ve been an RN for 30 years and the “healthcare” system is a cultural cluster #*%~. Doctors still think they are Gods and treat nurses like gum on their shoes. But what’s even worse is nurses throwing each other under the bus and nursing leadership abusing their power and intimidating nurses into compromising situations just so they can save a buck.
There is a ‘stop the line’ policy’ in every OR in the country but I have seen mistakes happen because of abusive, belligerent surgeons and nurses who don’t get support from their superiors. When organizations stop cowing to physicians and uphold consequences for unacceptable abusive behavior, our system will be a safer place for our patients and our nurses.

MDs. Using an apostrophe is incorrect. This is not a contraction nor this a case for using the possessive form. You are referring to Medical Doctors–plural. MDs not MD’s. Oh and by theway I have a whole family of MDs and a few nurses too. The abuse goes both ways. Clipboard nurses can be super abusive.

I was crying as I watched the video. I stand with the nurse and support all she did. I was amazed at a news report that pointed out that here in Arizona she would be wrong. This from a lawyer whose specialty is DUI. My thoughts were that this is really a federal issue because of HIPPA Issues. Noted the nurse pulled the hospital policy and explained it to the cop. Since this author is from Arizona I would like to know w her thoughts are on the Phoenix news report. Thanks for your information

I’ve been an RN since 1978 and held licenses in 5 states due to military and/or civilian moves. Over the past, almost 40 years I’ve seen, struggled through and survived a lot.

Periodically there have been rumblings, dreams of one national license. and talk about universal health care.

Now is an excellent time to fix ALL the problems. One License, One Healthcare Plan with the same level of care for all. One set of policies and procedures, one set of forms, one interactive electronic Medical record keeping system. and One set of prices Or maybe we are not all Equal under the Law.

We are short of Doctors and Nurses in some parts of the country. How about providing schooling to Qualified students and having them repay the cost of schooling by serving in an American Healthcare Corps.

Just an Idea. and an excellent opportunity for we the backbone of the struggling overburdened American Healthcare system to effect a positive change. We Need to Speak up and Stand together.

Instead of complaining, call for a vote, insist on being heard and taken seriously.

Don’t’ expect the ANA to represent you. I stopped Paying dues to the ANA a long time ago when I figured out they are their own brand of the swamp. Not capable of cooperating and working with one another to figure out a way to attain a national license. Also, We have no national healthcare plan, no national retirement plan. We are still subject to the whims of individual hospital administrations, forced to work more hours than we want because most only hire full-time plus Mandatory overtime.

We are on our own. Wake up, people. Smell the coffee. Speak up and stand together or we will continue to be abused.

Perhaps we need to join the Make America Great movement and demand our say in how the new healthcare plan is shaped. After all WE are the ones who will be doing all the grunt work.

Thank you for standing up and giving nurses the facts about what we need to do and not do and the supporting facts! This video is so enraging and I a supporter of co operating with law enforcement. The truth is she gave him the facts about why she was not drawing the blood and the support it administration and he proceeded to attack her.

I give this nurse a lot of praise for adhering code of ethics. I am so deeply appalled with the detective for getting overpowered over the hospital policy. He should be fired for police brutality and disrespect toward this nurse. I pray for this nurse to get her strength back as she will live this kind of pain in her life.

It is an absolute outrage to see how this nurse was treated for not only following her hospital’s policy but also for advocating for her patient. The relationship between nurses and law enforcement is to serve and protect. That is exactly what Ms. Wubbels did. Protect her patient. I am proud and privileged to be a nurse and fully support Ms. Wubbels actions. I hope after this incident she continues to serve the community for years to come because we need nurses like her; knowledgable and committed.

What concerns me about this is why the nurse was left to bear the brunt of this assault alone? None of the other officers intervened to deescalate the situation. Hospital security didn’t step in to protect her. While she was on the phone with someone from administration and from what I’ve read someone was on their way, no one was there to back her up. She was incredibly brave to endure this assault, but she shouldn’t have had to go it alone. Many people missed an opportunity to step in and put a stop to it.

There are no issues “on both sides”. The officer was clearly wrong. A nurse or any health professional should NEVER blindly obey a police officer, regardless of a patient’s status. An unconscious patient cannot consent to a police blood draw, you should know better. That nurse was assualted by a police officer and held against her will and then released “with no charges”. This is unbelieveable! The Supreme Court has held that the Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizures which includes taking a person’s blood. I’m sure this will not be posted on your site, but I hope you take the time to read and think about where we’re headed if this kind of Police behavior continues unabated. You saw with your own eyes the way this nurse was treated, do you really think this was fine? I hope not for all of us in America.

All due respect to your police chief relative, this is not a two sides case. The law, hospital policy (that SLC police department signed off on), and professional ethics all support the nurse. The officer and his superior were wrong, no excuses.

I understood from the extensive videos available, that the officer is also a paramedic and was on a blood draw task force. He was actually wanting to draw the patients blood himself. He was requesting access to the patient. She irefused him access to the patient.

Outcome still the same, but I thought you might want to revise your well written article. (see video where the PD Supervisor is interviewing the handcuffed Wubbell while she was in the car). This was an outrageous abuse of power.

Interesting. You should address what to do in a similarly situation, but where the officer doesn’t go berserk. What is the nurse supposed to do if the officer insists on the blood draw? Can she refuse? If she refuses and the officer asks another nurse who is willing to do the draw in violation of the patient’s rights, what should the first nurse do then? If the officer is a phlebotomist and moves to do the draw himself, what should the nurse do? If to call security, as the Utah Univ. Hospital staff did, and the security is just as clueless about the law as the SLC officers were and did nothing to help the nursing staff, then what?

Nursing Organizations in the state have to speak up on this situation. How the nurse was handled need much to be desire.
Some legal action need to taKen against the police man. These policemen are so disrespectful the think they are God.
Can you even respect this lady and go through the right process.

I agree with everything in this except who was to blame. The arresting officer was ordered to arrest the Nurse by his Lieutenant if the sample was not obtained. If he had done neither, he may have been fired for insubordination. The Lieutenant who ordered him to make the arrest is the one who should be fired. Police Officers, like Soldiers, should not be accountable for following orders unless those orders are clearly known by him or her to be illegal. If in doubt about legally correct actions, an officer should seek instruction from his superior and act accordingly…which is exactly what he did.

at the end of the 18 min video, some cop who is kneeling down talking to the nurse while she was in the car, was bullying her into admitting wrong doing. He told her he had been a cop for 23 years and he knew the law. He asked why she was getting herself involved by refusing. He said something about he needed the law to do this and her policy was in conflict with his law. He said if she did draw it, and the cps were wrong, there were remedies. Well, he did not know the law, and he was trying to make her fell that all of this drama was her fault and she had done something wrong. This really bothered me. And before he went after her, he made some other really dumb remarks,for which he got fired from his second job as a paramedic. If you listen to the entire video, it seems that he wanted to make an example of her, as the hospital in the past would not do what he wanted. More facts are coming out as more people are listening to the video. The hospital will not let cops talk to nurses now or come into the patient care areas- they have to talk to a senior administrator. The nurses should get hazardous duty pay, like we got in the Army when we were in a combat zone. I don’t think hospital security knew what to do, such a surprise situation. I think they were scared of the cop’s anger and did not know what he might do next. Ironically, the blood had already been drawn- too bad cop didn’t check on that. A sorry situation. Police dept should make sure the cops are updated on the laws.

Yes, BUT, the officer can’t take an order for a blood draw from a police lieutenant …. he’s NOT a doctor and DID NOT have a court order. If he was also a paramedic or phlebotomist, surely he had to have known that!!! Just as he HAD to know as a police officer that taking blood from a pt without consent or without an order from a dr, or a court order is ASSAULT. Shocking ignorance and abuse of power. Hope he pays for his abhorrent behavior. He is not knowledgeable enough to be either an officer or paramedic. Kudos to the RN!

This is a essential topic to our profession as we are the patient ‘s advocate and knowing the policies and procedures in your hospital saves you a lot and you know where you stand..this event just came in the right time as we encounter a lot of problems in i guess all the hospitals around the world..
So as nurses,know your policies by heart!

How come with government officials rather it’s police fire FBI Federal ministration or elected officials they go on paid administrative leave? But in the real world of the people who pay all of the salaries of those people they get fired. I would prefer the paid administrative leave what’s the difference between that and a vacation.

Thank you for your professional, informative response to this incident. I am also a nurse educator and want to have a conversation about this with my students. Your post provides a good starting point for that discussion and will help to focus on our role as nurses (the real take-home lesson here for students) and not on the actions of the officer. Much appreciated!

What business does a police officer have behind the scene in an ER? When a policemen is abusing, I mean arresting someone, if you step up to object or help, they will say you are interfering with their ability to do their job and you will be stopped. Does this only apply to police? Remember they are likely the one killing someone, the nurse is helping to save someone. Implied or not, the hospital policy says the nurse cannot allow a policeman to draw blood without a warrant or patient consent. No nurse is obligated to help the officer complete an investigation in that manner.You who wrote this are one of the scally wags that “try” to keep nurses at the bottom, finding reasons they are wrong instead of looking for reasons they are right. We shouldn’t have to have laws saying no one besides those authorized have any business in the ER, the ICU or in an OR..a police officer has no reason to be in any of those places. Their presence is obstructing the ability of the healthcare team to perform their duty. Open your eyes or maybe close them and pretend it was your mother unconscious and a police officer was bullying the nurse caring for her..it changes the story. I would scream like a banshee too if I were that nurse. How else can you draw attention? I mean, even with screaming for help, no one helped. I know they were hurting her, twisting her arm and putting handcuffs on and besides there was no reason to arrest her. Are you the rapist who puts your hand over the victim’s mouth and says: “shh, be quiet, relax and enjoy it”? These police are not the gentle giants we like to portray them to be. They are rough and mean and that police man came in determined to “make the nurse do what he said” (which was that he wanted to draw blood..not her, him) He was bigger and stronger and he had a gun..Something is so wrong here and all I can say is if you don’t recognize wrong or abuse you need to look in a mirror and ask yourself what you believe. If the nurse were you daughter or sister or mother…you would sing a different song. Sometimes it is better to sit down and shut up rather than to try to make bad look good or good look bad. You are the person who is in a firey crash and can’t breathe and the nurse risks her life grabs her ballpoint pen or scissors and pokes a hole in your trach and gives you breaths until life saving help comes. Once you are home and alive, you sue the nurse because you have a scar on your neck from the emergency trach she made (which saved your life). Go do something besides look for the fault of an honest professional.

First of all, the officer did not request her to draw blood. Utah is an implied state, so he didn’t need a warrant to draw it. I think this ladies screaming like a banshee and resisting arrest only made the situation worse. Obviously, we did not see the whole transaction, as we never do, so everyone just speculates. Just by the administrator on the phone saying why are you blaming the messenger shows that the ofr told them what would happen. My, question would be, why wasn’t the hospital administrator there in person to answer to this?

The administrative person on the phone was asking the officer why he was blaming the messenger. The nurse was the messenger. The nurse was the nursing supervisor. Do you think an administrator is at the hospital 24/7? They aren’t.
Maybe since Utah is an implied state, we should draw blood from every pt that comes to the ED for whatever we want. Ex hey that guy is skinny, who wants to bet he has AIDS, or is on drugs, on and on and on

Correct, he requested entry into the patients room to draw it himself. However, per hospital policy at this particular hospital, unless the patient is under arrest or you have a warrant, this is prohibited. The cop told her multiple times that he did not have a warrant. The women only “screamed like a banshee” after she was very roughly and wrongfully placed in handcuffs! She was polite and professional in manner and tone of speech with this power hungry policeman the entire time. Even when he was speaking to her so disrespectfully she maintained professional and gentle speech. Unbelievable! I think most anyone would have screamed and behaved as she did after being pushed into the wall and wrongfully placed in handcuffs! Are you kidding me.

Unfortunately this goes much deeper than one rogue officer who lost it and tried to have the nurse draw blood. If you read all the accounts the officer states he was instructed to arrest her in these circumstances by his Watch Commander. Then you have several other officers standing around who didn’t actively assist in the arrest, but never visibly questioned or tried to deescalate this situation. Finally, the most troubling report is a statement from the police chief himself who states the department “recently changed their blood drawing policy to be in line with the hospital’s.” That is not a policy pulled out of the air by the hospital, it’s the law! Does this mean prior to this incident the police have been operating outside the law with a departmental policy that fails to abide by the law of the land? How many times have patient rights been disregarded prior to this incident. I bet past patients will come out of the walls stating they never gave permission to have blood drawn for evidence. I don’t know who the 2nd officer is that was suspended, but based on all accounts this far, if found to be correct, then the officers at the hospital and all the way up to the chief himself, who is accountable for the policies adhering to the law they are supposed to uphold, are implicated in this travesty. The policy used by the hospital is practiced throughout the land. How can one police department have their own policy that is unconstitutional?

BTW, I am a retired CCRN. I have always had a collegial relationship with LE and supported them in any way possible. I would cooperate any way possible with them as long as it was within the law, particularly if it meant the possibility of getting another drunk driver off the road. But in this instance I would have been in the same position as the nurse, not being willing to break the law. Why didn’t the officer go to all the other ED employees from the Doc down and request them to get the blood–then they all could have been arrested. Better yet, this officer has been described as a certified phlebotomist with the police department–why didn’t he go to the patient and draw it himself, then the ED staff could have dialed 911 and report him as assaulting a patient. The entire mess is ludicrous, but more important, chilling to those who always believed LE stood for Law Enforcement.

I strongly agree with you. Watching this distressing act from law enforcement. I am not sure how, I would have responded. This wonderful brave courageous nurse is a true role model of nursing .Highest ethical and Intelligent, calm under severe unlawful pressure, stood her ground knowing she was going to be overpowered. Tell her job well done and I am very proud of her. Her employer had one of the best nurses working for them.

I have nothing but admiration and respect for Alex Wubbels. She is a true asset to our profession. The officer, Detective Jeff Payne, who arrested her, knew he did not have the right to take this patient’s (William Gray, a reserve officer from Idaho) blood. Another officer in the video asks why he doesn’t obtain a warrant. He answers that he has no probable cause. His blatant disregard for both the patient’s and Mrs. Wubbels’s rights is disturbing. I am glad that they have opened a criminal investigation into Det. Payne’s actions, but am disappointed that nothing happened until the release of the video sparked public outrage. To maintain our trust, police officers need to be held to the highest ethical standards, much like nurses. This nurse passed with flying colors.

As an RN and CNP, I couldn’t be prouder of this RN. She absolutely did the right thing and handled herself with professionalism and integrity. She protected the patient and his/her dignity. I am sick of the argument from some law enforcement that, they deal with so much they become frustrated and act out. Nurses are overwhelmed too. We are short staffed, make tough decisions sometimes at a moments notice with limited information, deal with ANY patient (with the intention of treating them all the same) and feel frustrated. The difference is, a nurse acting out could result in the loss of someones life, integrity and overall well-being. This officer was clearly not a first time offender when it comes to treating people badly. Most of us respect officers. We understand that your job is hard and that you do sometimes impossible work. However, this doesn’t excuse this incident. Beyond his poor behavior, the officer showed no remorse and didn’t think that he acted inappropriately. That is almost as scary as the incident itself. I hope that nurses come together and make this something that can be fixed. Most officers are excellent and serve with exceptional courage. This officer, however, does not fit this description and should be held accountable. I feel bad for the officers who are doing their job and are disgusted by this incident. I hope that they will be brave and say openly that this is indefensible. If this was a nurse, she would be held accountable by her hospital, the patient, other nurses and likely her licensing board. I also wonder how this officer would feel if this was him, his child, his wife or anyone that he loved lying unconscious on a table. Would it be acceptable to him in that situation? Again, it is my belief that most police officers are good people who deserve respect. I also believe the same of nurses. I would say that this is a “teachable” moment but there are enough of those in our country that this would get mixed in and eventually ignored. I hope that this stays in the news so that people can see the strength of nurses and know that we will protect them even if it means being disrespected and assaulted.

I have a nurse daughter and a police sergeant son. There are good and bad in every profession, unfortunately the bad are usually the ones getting the attention. A bully is a bully..and the law is the law. I don’t know what this officer was hoping to gain by obtaining “evidence” illegally. If this was my daughter, I would be seeking justice for her with the hope this man finds a different profession.

The detective should be fired and she shouod sue the crap out of him. He clearly, way overstepped his authority as a law enforcement officer. What he did was severe and his punishment should be severe.

Too bad that officer wasn’t in the loop as far as what that hospitals procedure regarding the current consent laws are. The nurse did and she needs to be praised in doing her job and sticking up for the patients rights. I certainly don’t know the details but it seems this could have been avoided with some confidential talk without all the emotional power play. So sad

The nurse attempted calm talk with this little man. She pulled the hospital policy, had her management team on the phone, and attempted in every way to remain calm, cooperative and just plain nice. This is all entirely on the cop!

The video was very clear that the officer was not only in the wrong but was angry because the nurse refused to break the law for him. He not only illegally arrested her but threatened to have others arrested for trying to help her. That hot headed, over barring, unjustified, sorry excuse for an officer of the law proved he has absolutely no business being in any place of authority. And furthermore he cannot be trusted! If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. It’s hard enough to defend and respect those who are in authority as it is. Liberal lunatics are already out to destroy police officers as it is. Stupid crap like this should have never happened. Laws and rules are set in place and must be abided by, by every one including officers of the law. If they are going to enforce it where others are concerned they are expected to abide by themselves, PERIOD!!

I salute to the Utah Nurse who stood on the side od her patient. Very valiant….she knows her patient’ s right and where her loyalty should be…Nurses are truely trustworhty professionals…I am proud to be a nurse…

I’m surprised no one from the hospital went with her to the police car. She had to be treated like she was was a travesty and showed me how people will not stand in solidarity on the spot. Screaming please help me. That was amazing. Op

I was very surprised the other officers did not step in and stop this before it got so escalated.the security guard is by the door on his phone!I have been a nurse for 35years, have been asked for lab results of to obtain land by police and osha investigators over the years and have always told them no unless they have a court order. This is not a new rule! The Supreme court solidified it.I am very proud of Nurse Alex!

I have never seen anything as terrible as this.That guy is a bully. Manhandling the nurse was appalling . She was just trying to show him the policy. She is a true patient advocate. A question I have is why didn’t administration and hospital security come down to protect the nurse and the patient ? And…why did they let all those officers in that area -plus the had their weapons on. I guess they don’t have a policy about no weapons on the floor. This makes me wonder what other atrocities has the law enforcement team committed there. They seem too comfortable being there.
The police department failed big time. Glade this was capture on video and shared.

Thank you for this article.
I am a retired nurse and am aware of the “bullying” that can occur to override
a nurses decision based on hospital protocol.

I am sorry you added the additional sentence regarding “unless other details arise”. It appeared that protocol
was followed throughout this situation. Perhaps the sentence could have left out who was right and wrong and
focused on the needs of all departments to understand what their duty is under these circumstances. I imagine this officer was in crisis mode when he entered the hospital and was not considering the ramifications of his actions.

I am not sure why the officer would have been in crises mode though. This was a routine thing. He just didnt have the proper legal order to do so and became crazy! How can he be trusted in a real crisis situation given that he acts like a raging 2 year old when not given his way? That is really all that this is about if you watch the video. He had absolutely no interest in ensuring that he was keeping the law, he just wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. He is disgusting in every way.

So true, having watched the video repeatedly, I was horrified and appalled ! Nursing profession is already all consuming in it’s entirety that to add this undeserved aggravation and humiliation was like a final straw, and unexplainable. Nurse Alex exhibited such calm and responsibility in the face of such threat and aggravation although one could see from her demeanor that she felt she was being bullied and overpowered without any defense. BUT then I wondered, why such determined bold reaction from that officer. Did he know her from somewhere? and trying to avenge some cold animosity. I don’t know but this video was so unbelievable to me that I have tried to analyze the situation from every angle because this incident was far out of a normal or even an abnormal reaction . It was a madman’s escape.

My comments are based on my experience as a reliability engineer and chairman of many many Failure Review Boards followed by my second career for 17 years as a critical care nurse in Phoenix. I think the occurance in the hospital is well documented while the Mayor (City) and Police Chief’s response is a best increasing more complicated. It is clear that that the city is completely unprepared to respond and address this issue. The Chief’s initial response that “we changed the blood draw procedure” without an explanation of the changes opened more issues than it solved. Without looking at the procedure I can assure you there was nothing in, or will ever be, in the procedure that would have caused or prevented this situation. He should have never said anything about the procedure. Second, the result of only removing the officer Payne from the blood draw program was a major tactical mistake. It implied this was not a serious issue and they could not have felt the nurse was within her rights. Third, the hospital police, who should have known the policy did nothing, and continue to do nothing need. The reason the video was released was because they refuse to make any changes.
In conclusion please let me tell you what the three requirements are for a Failure Review Board outcome. A; a true Root Cause Corrective action that assures that the failure will NEVER happen again. B; a description of the effectivity of the Corrective action, namely who and what is effected. C; Incorporation, as to how it will be incorporated through policy changes, training, education and job entrance requirements. The City and Chief have no idea what and how to address this issue and I hope they read this and complete this process before they hold a press conference again.

Dear Jennifer, thank you so much for your expert advise on this issue. It was a pleasure to read all of the supporting facts related to this current case. I also feel the officer committed an assault on a health care worker & unlawful confinement on this nurse , much like being Kidnapped , held against her will. Was she read her rights prior to his arrest ? I think not ! This lovely & dedicated nurse was screaming in pain as the officer man handed her in a disrespectful brutal way.

One thing no one is addressing is the fact that when he arrested this nurse he forced her to leave her patients without a nurse to replace her. This is totally unacceptable and life threatening to all the patients on that unit.
This nurse did exactly what she should have done and is a hero in my book for this is what we as nurses are taught, trained and by law supposed to do. The danger the cop put other patients in should be addressed along with the rest of the mistakes he made that day.

Amen to that! Remember the nurses that were criminally charged for not evacuating some patients during a flood several years back? They could not safely get to the patients and had no choice really but to risk death or leave and they were charged. However this officer put all the patients in danger and no charges are brought on him?! Really.

You have a piece of misinformation in your article. The officer was not asking the nurse to perform the phlebotomy. He was part of a special team And was trained to draw blood work on his own. It doesn’t change the dynamics of what happened but thought you would want to make your article as accurate as possible.

Excellent article. However one needs to take it a step further than simply “policy and procedure” and “nursing ethics”. Lest we forget the much larger picture, those things you mention have their as their basis, the Constitution. It is not nursing procedure, a policy manual or nursing specific ethics developed by a nursing board that protected this patient’s rights. It was the Constitutional guarantee against illegal search and seizure that frames the groundwork of what many simply see as “policy”. I laud his nurse for protecting the unconscious man’s inalienable right to his own person. It is a sad day indeed when “policy and procedure” is praised over what has been given to each and every person in this country by our Creator and not an elected or politically appointed “board”.

This is an eye-opener for both sides. Being a nurse, I am committed to my patients so this is a great reminder for me to know my hospital policies. And yes, you were right when you said that nurses should protect themselves…and knowing the hospital policy or how to get to it when needed, is helpful.

Since it’s a medico-legal case, the police must wait and listen to the nurse first on how to get the information that will be needed for their investigation or for court purposes. And lastly, it must be a statement from a doctor handled the case as an official findings with accordance to Hospital’s legal department rules and policy. Lesson : ask first before you touch things that doesn’t belong to you ?

The problem goes deeper than policy. Why did the police need the victims blood? Oh, because a high speed pursuit they were involved in caused massive injuries to an innocent victim, the guy they wanted blood from, who they could not arrest, had no warrant because no judge would have provided one and they had no probable cause.

The police committed multiple crimes trying to illegally obtain the victims blood. Why? Because they were on an illegal hunt to find evidence that would eliminate or reduce their liability for the injuries of the victim.

I hope this nurse Sue’s for assault from that office, and hospital security should be fired as per the officers she could of had a heart attack
It could be our sister, mother,
This nurse should sue for millions
I would sue the Hospital
No one helped her, are we in United States
I am surprised President Trump didn’t address this horror
This nurse was abused assaulted
physically mentally
She will never get over this
She is a healer makes the difference everyday for us
I would sue the Police department they should of waited for Administration to arrive
This is a elite nurse who followed her Legal policy of this Hospital that security did not protect her
What a devastating situation
To this nurse go to a hospital that will protect you and Administration is a disgrace for not getting there
Sue and know no one was there for you…your to good for this Hospital
I know I worked in the ER and they would of protected and the charge nurse would of stepped in..
Very dangerous what they did to you
SUE
This would never happen in New York
Florida…..

I have nothing but respect for the nurse and nothing but contempt for each and every one of the officers involved, including those who passively watched.

That being said, I want to make a more general observation:

If tomorrow, next week or next month any of those officers were to show up in the ER as a patient I have absolutely no doubt that Nurse Wubbles and the entire ER staff would set aside any personal feelings and provide the best care they possibly could. Conversely, I have no doubt that tomorrow, next week or next month if any of the officers who “stood around” were to witness another fellow officer unlawfully abuse a citizen they would once again, stand around and make no effort to de-escalate the situation, let alone step in to restrain the offending officer. This is the difference between the ethics and culture of health care professionals and that of the law enforcement community. To put it more explicitly, the ethos of the health care community is “do the right thing for the patient”; the ethos of the law enforcement community is “protect my fellow officers’ backsides”.

Shame on all of us!!!! It is so unfortunate that we have taken a stance that separates us from our law enforcement officers. These comments show an intense amount of personal bias. I have been an ED nurse for 30 years, and Burn before that. We depend on law enforcement. The nurse was doing her job. The officer, in his requests, was doing his job. Of all professions, we as nurses should understand what it means to exercise, in a brief second, a lack of prudent judgement. As far as the statement above, I have every confidence that if I called my Salt Lake City PD for an ED problem, they would be there in a second to help. I respect what they are doing for public protection and safety. We can stand behind our “right thing for the patient”, but they stand behind “right thing for the public”. Again, Shame on us!!!!

With respect, I think it was the unwarranted and unlawful arrest that has caused separation between us and law enforcement officers.

I share your confidence that if you were to call the SLC PD for an ED problem they would come to help. Unfortunately, I also have confidence that were an officer to overstep the bounds while there all other officers present would, just as they did with Nurse Wubbles, stand around doing nothing to rein in a rogue officer. Yes the law enforcement community will serve the public; however, serving the public will always take a back seat to covering for and backing fellow officers even if they are in the wrong. It is no surprise that not a single one of the many law enforcement persons in the video made a move to restrain officer Payne, not a single one of them even bothered to say “let’s wait a moment and give everyone a chance to cool off”. Every last one of them was complicit in the abuse of Nurse Wubbles by their inaction.

As a nurse that had his license suspended for a misdomenor in the state of Minnesota, I had to look up what the board of nursing does with regard to the nurse practice act. Even though this nurse will likely be supported by the hospital, etc. She may loose her ability to practice nursing affecting the rest of her life, just by arrest! What do you think?

——-Many posts have referred to expunged or sealed records or deferred or stayed prosecution. Technically these items shouldn’t show up on a routine criminal background check, you may even have documents that say you can answer “no” if asked. This may apply to an employer but it may not apply to the BoN!

Many applications for licensure are very clear on this and ask the question something like this:
Have you ever been convicted, pled no contest/nolo contendere, pled guilty to or been granted a deferred judgment or sentence with respect to a felony, misdemeanor or a petty offense? You may exclude minor traffic offenses that do not involve alcohol or drugs. (The fact that a conviction has been pardoned, expunged, dismissed, deferred or that your civil rights have been restored does not mean that you answer this question NO; you should answer YES.)
Still other states ask a much more simple question such as this one from the Nevada application for a RN license:
Have you ever had a criminal conviction, including a misdemeanor or felony, or had a civil judgment rendered against you?
If you have an expunged/sealed/deferred criminal record you may think your answer to the question is “no”. However, the Nevada’s FAQs make it clear your answer should be “yes”.
Important points to remember if you’ve ever been convicted of a crime
Even if you have been told a conviction has been expunged, sealed dismissed, dropped, closed, etc., it may still show up on your fingerprint report.
You could have been convicted even if you didn’t spend any time in jail.
Criminal convictions include misdemeanors and felonies.
If you answered “NO” to Question #2 and the Board finds you have a conviction, your application will be denied as a fraudulent application. http://www.nursingboard.state.nv.us/…l convictions/
Most states do not have the additional, clarifying information on their websites like Nevada does.
If you have a criminal history regardless of whether or not it has been expunged/sealed/deferred you need to ASK THE BoN!

More and more states are requiring fingerprints as part of a FBI background check. If you have an expunged/sealed/deferred criminal record IT WILL SHOW UP.

Utah gives a very clear warning of this right on their application:
WARNING: If information received from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification or the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicates that you have failed to accurately disclose your criminal history to the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, any nurse license issued to you will be immediately and automatically revoked. http://www.dopl.utah.gov/licensing/f…012_RN_LPN.pdf
If you fail to clarify this issue with the BoN in advance and you answer “no” on the application when you should have answer “yes” and an FBI or State fingerprint check returns a crime you will probably not be issued a license and if one has already been issued it will be revoked.

This nurse was correct in everything she did. I applaud her for her professionalism and upholding a patients rights. At any time this could have been me, or my best nurse friend that’s why this awful act really hits home. Personally the police department ,city and hospital all need to be held accountable for their actions, or lack of action, be it via a law suit and or police termination. This incident will continue to be a learning experience for all current and future nurses.

I would like to know where the manager of the unit and the house supervisor and chief clinical officer were while this was happening. It is obvious that she had enough time to get a paper copy of the policy and she was talking with someone from the hospital. But why didn’t they get their butts down to that unit. When you watch the footage, she is the only female visible. That also put her in a vulnerable position. And when she is pushed out of the hospital, the hospital security guard pushes the plate to open the doors. The situation was poorly handled by the cop, every man present watching this sickening behavior, and the hospital management team who couldn’t get out of a meeting to help their staff in such distress.

The officer had the expectation to retrieve blood. Legal or not didn’t matter, get the blood or else. We have a person here where ethics holds very little meaning. He lives closer to the animal realm, classified as the id. Not a very high functioning person. He would be a person who might easily go into a rage, if he did not get his way. He went into a rage at the hospital, and is trying to hide behind the general protections the public give the police.

The ideal is that police will protect against such poor behavior. The reality is that there are many people like this in all societies. That is the fact about all of this. Is there a solution? To be less than perfect? The truth is, we are all growing and learning from our mistakes. Hopefully. But to hide it, to look the other way, how is that any different than the churches hiding their pedophile sinners?

We need to be truthful….absolutely truthful. Don’t give this officer a pass. Don’t let this teaching opportunity be lost! Help this officer understand the violations against humanity that he created, and help him learn to do better.

In this whole event, there are many transgressions. Police demanding blood samples to reduce liability of the state police. It is ironic the victim here is himself a police officer. A decent guy. Trying to be the best he can be.

The abuse of power by the catholic church of the past 2000 years is now abuse of power by the police community. Why not break the chains of all violations against humanity? Why not do the highest and the best of each person’s ability?
Will~

This is intended to be more than “a comment”. There was nothing right with the situation in focus except the nurse and her actions. It is correct that nurses are not required to help police in information gathering for investigations. The police for the most part are low paid, generally minimally educated, power seeking, mostly male bullies. They seem to have a mind set that every body is guilty until proven innocent; I believe that is opposite of correct, innocent until proven guilty is the law. They seem to also have an affinity of thinking: “shoot to kill” rather than “shoot to stop, hobble, cripple”.
And by the way, we have a need to always try to deflect issues so that nothing gets resolved. The nurse who spoke of the policeman turned dog catcher and wished he were shot and came to the ER where she worked to receive care, the nurse was expressing the extent of her anger. You who commented what that this shows something about her not the officer are trying to confuse the issue(unsuccessfully). She was, in her words and her way, defending a nurse which no one else did.
The fact that so many people stood by while the “gastapo” I mean, police invaded the ER shows that the public fear the police. None of us think we can step up and say “no”, not this time to police officer because we are afraid of being shot and killed. No police officer should have had access to the nurse or the patient. This should have been managed by hospital security and management should have moved in to protect the employee, employee rights, the patient, patient rights and safety of all. No one did (and she did call hospital administration and they spoke to the officer..but who came?)
This seems to be the destiny of nurses. Always “in trouble”, always without support, always “guilty” always “overpowered” always ” wrong. Many private citizens have no idea of the responsibility nurses take. We take the fall for every one else’s lack (and the sad part is the public does not know who a nurse is..they don’t know the Aide from the LVN or the RN) A nurse is a nurse is a nurse as evidenced by RN pay. The Aide has a certification, LVN has a license,and the RN has 2 to 4 or 6 years or more of college + a license (and in unrealistic level of responsibility). If the pharmacy makes a mistake, or the doctor, those mistakes fall on the nurse(the nurse should have “caught it”). Patients or families wait too long to come for help..nurse’s problem..in home health nurses are even responsible when a patient falls.
Simply to say: Things are out of order. Are we going to have police going into the sterile operating area because …what? because they have a gun and we are afraid?
Where is the comradery, the support, the loyalty. It is non existant..I watched the video and I saw no one helping. This sickens me. What are police even doing drawing blood? Remember all we were taught in school about infections in the bloodstream? Remember? Most of us are clueless about policies and laws and rights and I mean even hospital administrators. Complain once and see what happens. Instead of immediately investigating the issue they will investigate you. I know I had it happen when I was trying to protect a patient.
The nurse here was on her own, willing to do the right. The thing most of you don’t know is if she did anything ‘deemed’ wrong it is not just losing her job or being sued…The state board will jump right on it and remove your license, your ability to practice your profession because they do not support the nurse, they are there to protect the public from the nurse. Did you know that? That is in writing.
We have to somehow stand up and say “no more”. The nurse organizations we have all want to be politically correct rather than solving problems the nurses face. This nurse was abused at so many levels and we have to help stop this abuse by writing to our congressmen and senators and saying we want laws that protect us and hospitals we want policies that prevent hospitals from becoming police states where we operate in fear.
If we received appropriate pay and raises we might be able to buy insurance or lawyers to protect us but now most of us cannot afford attorney fees so we just sit back up, shut up and take the heat. To whoever took the video and posted it, Thank you. Thank you for being a thinking person, a friend to the nurse and to society and exposing the truth to us.(close your eyes and try to imaging how this would have played out if no one had videoed it) Thank you.

Very proud of the nurse for protecting her patient,s right.These useless cops used the color of their uniform and the so called power to do stupid stuff to arrest the nurse. Unfortunately this is the way they act on the street.You wonder why lots of people do not have respect for them.It is a shame.God bless this nurse for doing her job well.

I commend the nurse with great respect for protecting her patient’s rights. I hope she will aggressively bring the law enforcement officer to court. Where were her co -workers. managers, administrator, charge nurse? How could they watched her being handcuffed?

Ok. Try this on for size.
So a patient came into the ER having a massive basilar occlusion (CVA/Stroke). He is accompanied by a woman who states she is his wife and he concurs. Nevertheless, we took him to IVR (interventional radiology) to attempt a stents. He later had another bleed from a rbifurcation. He was later put on life support. Someone in the hospital recognized the woman and asked what was going on. The doctor came in and said he was not going to recover and was basically brain dead. The woman did sign the consent for treatment and the consent to stop all life saving measure. She did agree to donate his organs. A few hours later, his son showed up with several questions. By this point his father is deceased, status post organ donation. Soon after, his mother (patients wife) and raises sand. She also has questions. She leaves to return with a very recent marriage license. I then thoroughly inquired the woman who came in with the patient, the nature of the relationship. She stated they had been together for a long time and she was to always say she was his wife. They were homeless and to stay together in shelters and homes of others, she had to stick with the story. The woman and the wife had a huge altercation in which security had to intervene. I was even lunged at. She (legal wife)threatened to sue me, the doctor, hospital and all staff who participated in the care of the patient (husband).
I am sharing this because there is nothing I have found in researching hospital and legal policy that states verifying patient relationships. In an emergency case it’s about saving the patient at all cost. The woman did the extreme with signing all the documents and donating his organs. We were deposed and a lawsuit was filed naming everyone. The suit was later dropped. I felt very vulnerable after this ordeal as this was not the first encounter with families who were out of touch with each other and had scores to settle out of rage and anger.
I had a girlfriend bring in a baby and state she was the mother. The boyfriend (baby’s biological father) was at work but rushed to the hospital and the biological mother showed up also. The girlfriend signed consent for treatment as baby’s mother. The baby has a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) and was rushed to surgery to have a shunt placed. The baby was in critical condition. Again another fight between the ladies and lawsuit, which was dropped.

How can hospitals and personnel truly get family to verify their relationship status with the patient without putting patient and hospital personnel at risk for lawsuits?

I praise the nurse for standing up for her patient. The only thing I would have done differently is to hold my hands out and let the officer arrest me. All the while smiling sweetly and telling him I would have his job AND his pension if he did so! My husband is a police officer and I was a legal secretary prior to becoming a nurse. This is one of those “you can’t fix stupid” moments.

We must be watching two totally different videos. As I see it, it is EXCEEDINGLY CLEAR that this nurse was committing the crime of resisting/obstructing an officer. Say, for example, you get pulled over and the officer writes you a ticket for running a stop sign, but you did not run the stop sign. At that moment, it doesn’t matter if you have a dashboard camera with rock solid video proof showing that you are in the right. Well, you would still have to sign for and accept the citation, otherwise you can be arrested for resisting/obstructing an officer. If you refused to sign for the ticket and got arrested, you could show your dashcam evidence in court. Likely the charge for running the stop sign would be dropped but you’d be convicted for resisting/obstructing the officer.

This scenario was that exact same type of situation. The nurse was resisting/obstructing an officer, a CRIMINAL action. The issue is not whether or not she was “in the right” on the underlying issue. She should have not committed the CRIME of resisting an officer. I think she will be found guilty of that component of the case.

The thing is, none of those hospital security people or university security could protect her without being ostracized among their peers or causing a potentially violent escalation in that hospital area. That officer Payne appeared to be out of control for some reason, possible he needs to be checked for drugs or steroids. He has an anger issue in any case.

But what really got me was the officer kneeling next to her while she was in the car, trying to brainwash her in a low, patient sounding voice, telling her why she was in the wrong and being arrested. He was just as wrong and compounded the damage.

Yes, I hope she sues and gets treatment for the PTSd they caused her to have, it appears. It’s easy to second guess in hindsight, and imagine what we would do in her situation, to de-escalate things. But she acted without fault, in the circumstances she had never encountered or heard of before.

I watched the video from this article’s link. And how can anyone say this nurse did not CLEARLY do her job. I have no idea why someone would post she was obstructing justice when the officer admitted there was no warrant, no arrest, and no criminal investigation. The nurse consulted persons of authority at her facility, the officer was told he was making a mistake, then he lashed out after hearing he was incorrect in his handling. He attempted to remove her personal property, her phone, in which he had no legal jurisdiction to do so, then he grabbed her and said “we are done here” AND then stated she is under arrest. This is NOT obstructing justice. This is police misuse of the officer’s authority and police brutality. The officer never stated her offense, no rights were read to her during this clip of course which should have If the nurse was at fault, the Police Chief would have not apologized, changed there policy, and had taken corrective action against the officer. I only hope the person posting that the nurse was criminal by obstructing justice is not a nurse, as it would be hard to understand how a fellow nurse would make excuses for the crime that happened against this nurse who was preventing a crime against her patient.

How did these officers get past hospital security? Why didn’t hospital security call the unit before they sent these officers up to the unit? I commend her for following the hospital policy and getting hospital management involved. This officer clearly was out of legal boundaries. I am glad for once someone who did something like this got fired. What if he had hurt her physically in some way while arresting her. I personally would be filing a lawsuit. It is bad enough that health care workers are hurt and assaulted by patients, families and gangs. Now we have to worry about those who have sworn to serve and protect the community. This a disgrace.

Just a quick reminder to all that think “Policy is law”. Hospital policy IS NOT “the law of the land”. Laws are typically very vague and general, which is why judges need to interpret them. Hospital policy is usually succinct (each one, the total policy books are voluminous)and they (hopefully) derive from best practices, and take into accounts conflicting beliefs: “do no harm” , vs “right to refuse treatment” and “Patient rights and autonomy to direct care” to make coherent policy statements. In the ER/hospital setting patients are routinely put in restraints to avoid interference with medical treatment (invasive and required lines and tubes) – the “law of the land” would call this battery. And medical professionals would be at risk of losing liberty and license to practice every time this occurred. Just a small example, I could get more.

I watched the video and I was shocked, how the cops do like that , why they thought like that this nurse did not CLEARLY do her job, I am Very proud of the nurse for protecting her patient,s right. salute to the nurse.